Deliverability
Communications → Deliverability lists every email address that has bounced, been refused by the mail provider, reported a message as spam, unsubscribed, or is being held back by the suppression list — across campaigns and system email — with what the receiving mail server said about each bounce and who the address belongs to.
Five different things appear on this page, and they call for different responses. A bounce is a delivery failure: the address needs fixing. A refused address is one the mail provider declined to send to at all, because it is on the provider's own list of addresses that previously bounced, unsubscribed or reported spam; nothing was sent, and the reason names which list. A spam report is a complaint: the recipient told their mail provider they did not want the message. An unsubscribe is a choice: the recipient asked not to receive this kind of mail, and the right response is to respect it, not to repair anything. A suppressed address is one Ayuna itself will no longer send to, because of a hard bounce or a spam report on record; see below.
What you'll see
The page groups by address rather than by message. One address is one thing to deal with, however many emails it has touched. For each address:
- Constituent — the person the address belongs to, linked to their profile. If the record has already been given a different address since the failure, the row shows an Address updated badge.
- Address — the one that bounced, was refused, was reported, or unsubscribed.
- Outcome — badges for what happened: Bounced (with a count if it has bounced more than once), Refused (the provider declined to send), Spam, Unsubscribed, Suppressed (held back by Ayuna's list). An address can carry more than one.
- Reason — for a bounce, the mail provider's classification with the raw server response underneath; hover the response to read it in full. For a refused address, which of the provider's lists it is on. Spam reports and unsubscribes carry no reason.
- Last — when the most recent event happened, and when the first one did.
The address always gets a whole line to itself; the constituent, the reason and the timestamp are the ones that shorten as the window narrows, moving underneath the address rather than disappearing. Select any row to open the whole address — the constituent, every outcome, the complete server response, how many events came from campaigns and how many from system email, and the first and last of them, none of it trimmed. Fix address, Opt out, Deactivate and Release are all on that dialog too, each aimed at the one address, so a single address does not have to be selected first.
The tiles at the top count addresses that are bouncing, addresses the provider is refusing, addresses that reported spam, addresses that unsubscribed, addresses on the suppression list, and addresses with any event in the last thirty days.
Exporting
Export CSV, next to Refresh, saves what this tab holds as a spreadsheet file. Choose a window — the last 30 days, the last 90, this year so far, everything, or two dates of your own — and whatever the page is filtered to comes with it, which the dialog says before you download.
On Failing addresses the window narrows the events, so every count in the file describes that period: "what bounced in September" rather than "everything, ever". Whether an address is on the suppression list is not an event, so that column reports how it stands today. On Suppressed addresses the window is when the evidence was last seen.
Times in the file are your organization's own clock, and each timestamp column says which timezone in its heading. If a window holds more rows than one file should carry, the export is refused rather than cut short, and says how many rows it found — narrow the dates or add a filter and try again.
Filtering
- Outcome — only bounced, only refused by the provider, only spam-reported, only unsubscribed, or only suppressed addresses.
- Bounce reason — one of the provider's classifications, with the number of bouncing addresses in each.
- Source — addresses that had an event on campaigns, on system email, or that opted out through the unsubscribe link in the email footer.
- Search — by address or by the constituent's name.
Unsubscribes here include everyone who clicked the unsubscribe link in an Ayuna email or pressed the Unsubscribe button their mail app shows next to the sender's name, whichever kind of mail they opted out of. The reason column shows which ("Unsubscribed from newsletter via email link", "... via one-click unsubscribe"). Opt-outs lists everyone who has opted out, by kind of mail, however it was recorded, and is where to opt someone back in.
What the bounce reasons mean
| Reason | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid Address | The address does not exist. Usually a typo, a closed account, or a bad import. | Correct the address on the profile, or clear it if there is no better one. |
| Mailbox Unavailable | The mailbox exists but is full, disabled, or temporarily refusing mail. | Wait and check again; if it keeps failing, treat it as invalid. |
| Reputation | The receiving server refused the message because of the sender's standing, not this address. | Nothing to fix on the address. A high rate here across many addresses means the sending list needs cleaning. |
| Frequency or Volume Too High | The receiving server is rate-limiting mail from the sender. | Same as Reputation: this is a list-health signal, not an address problem. |
| Technical | A server problem on their side or ours. | Check again later. |
| Content | The message itself was rejected. | Review the template. |
| Unclassified | The provider could not classify it. | Read the raw response. |
A campaign with a bounce rate above about two percent is the point at which mail providers start throttling or filtering the sender, and every affiliate shares the same sending reputation. A large batch of Invalid Address failures after an import is worth cleaning before the next send.
Refused by the provider
The mail provider keeps its own record of addresses that have bounced, unsubscribed or reported spam, and refuses to send to them again without trying. When that happens the address shows Refused with the reason naming the list: Bounced Address, Unsubscribed Address or Spam Reported Address. That list is shared by every affiliate on the platform, so an address can be refused here because of what happened to another affiliate's mail. Nothing reached the recipient.
The suppression list
Once an address has hard-bounced, or its owner has reported a message as spam, Ayuna stops sending to it rather than letting the provider refuse the same send over and over. That is the Suppressed outcome, and hovering the badge says which it was. Two rules decide what is held back:
| Evidence on record | Campaigns and automations | Receipts, confirmations and statements |
|---|---|---|
| Hard bounce | held back | held back |
| Spam report | held back | still sent |
A soft bounce (a full mailbox, a server that was busy) never puts an address on the list; the provider retries those itself. Password resets and other account emails are never held back.
The list is shared across every affiliate, because a dead address is dead for everyone and a spam report counts against the one sending reputation everyone shares. An address can therefore be held back here because of evidence from another affiliate's mail; in that case the reason reads "on the mail provider's list" and nothing more.
What a held-back send looks like. A campaign shows the count of suppressed recipients in its estimate before you send and on its Recipients tab afterwards. A receipt or confirmation that was held back appears in Communications → Logs under Failures only with the reason, so it is never silent.
Receipts get their own warning. A receipt is something the donor is owed, so when the list holds one back, two things happen until it is dealt with: an envelope icon with a count appears in the header bar wherever you are in Ayuna, and the top of this page lists each receipt that was not emailed, with the donor, the amount, the address it was meant for, and whether that address is still on the list. A receipt still held says Still on the list; click it to open that address on the Suppressed addresses tab. Fix the address, or release it there if you know it works, then choose Resend on the receipt: it goes to the person's current address. If the address is still on the list, the resend is refused and offers Send anyway, which makes one attempt past the list, records who did it and why, and releases nothing; if the address bounces again it stays on the list. A receipt leaves the list and the header count the moment it is sent.
A store receipt from the point of sale is counted with the system email below rather than here, because it is not one of the receipt records this page can re-send; resend it from the sale instead.
Other system email says so too, without a resend. Confirmations, invites, reminders and the rest are held back by the same rule, and the page counts how many were refused in the last thirty days with a link straight to those entries in Logs. There is no Resend on them, and that is deliberate rather than missing: Ayuna keeps the subject, the outcome and the reason for every send, but not the finished message, so there is nothing to send again. Fix or release the address and the next one goes out normally. The count is for the last thirty days because, unlike a receipt, there is nothing here to clear.
Ayuna also checks the provider's list nightly. Addresses the provider already holds as bounced or spam-reported, including ones from before Ayuna started keeping this list, are added to the suppression list overnight, so a campaign never has to find out by having a send refused. When a campaign or a receipt is held back by one of these, the reason reads "on the mail provider's list": the campaign's recipient list shows it against the address, and a receipt shows in the banner above. This page lists the address once it has bounced, been refused, or been suppressed for your affiliate.
Releasing an address. If you know an address works — the donor confirmed it, or it was a temporary problem — release it. Releasing lifts the hold for every affiliate, records who did it and why, and removes the address from the provider's list in the same step. If the provider does not accept the removal, the message says so and the address will still be refused there until the platform team clears it. An address that bounces again after a release goes straight back on the list. The Suppressed addresses tab below is where releasing lives.
An address is also released automatically when the person enters it again themselves on their profile, when they verify their email address for an account, or when a staffer sets it as the primary address with Fix address. An address someone has proven they own is the best evidence there is that it works. An address typed into a public form (a donation, a sponsor signup, a new registration before the verification link is clicked) does not release anything, because anyone could type it; a receipt held back for one shows in the banner above.
The Suppressed addresses tab
This page has two tabs. Failing addresses is the history: what your sends did, and the reasons the receiving servers gave. Suppressed addresses is the list itself: every address Ayuna will hold a send back from next time, which is not the same set.
It is not the same set for two reasons. An address that bounced and has since been released is on the first tab and not the second, because it is no longer held. And an address the mail provider holds that you never bounced yourself is on the second and not the first — these come from the nightly check of the provider's own list, and before this tab there was nowhere to see or release them.
Each row shows the address, the constituent if Ayuna matched one, whether it is a Hard bounce or a Spam report, whether the hold came from your own sends or the mail provider's list, the classification and server response where there is one, and when the evidence was last seen. Search matches an address or a name; the two filters narrow by reason and by which list is holding it.
Select a row to open the hold in full, including the two things that decide what it actually stops: whose evidence is holding the address, and whether it reaches receipts and confirmations as well as marketing. Release is on that dialog as well as on the row.
Releasing, one or many. Every row has its own Release. To do several at once, tick the rows — or the box in the header to take the whole page — and choose Release from the bar that appears. Either way you are asked for a note, which is kept on the record. Selection is by address, not by person, so an address with no constituent behind it can be released like any other.
Fixing an address
Click Fix address on the row and enter the correct email. It becomes the constituent's primary address; the old one stays on their profile as an alternate, so nothing is lost. The row then shows Address updated. You can also open the constituent and change it on their profile.
An address cannot be cleared without a replacement: every constituent keeps at least one email on file. If there is no better address, opt them out or deactivate them instead.
Acting on many at once
Tick the rows you want, or the box in the header for the whole page, and a bar appears with the count and two actions. Both ask you to confirm with the exact number of people, and both are written to the audit log with your name and note.
- Opt out — records an opt-out for the kinds of email you choose (newsletter, email updates, volunteer opportunities), with your note as the reason. SMS is handled on the Opt-outs page. Sends of those kinds stop; receipts and confirmations continue. The people then appear on Opt-outs, where they can be opted back in.
- Deactivate — marks the constituents inactive. Nothing is sent to inactive people, of any kind. Their record, history and any login stay. Use this for addresses that are dead with no one to reach behind them; it is a stronger step than an opt-out and is never the default.
- Release — takes the selected suppressed addresses off the list, here and at the provider, with your note. Only for addresses you know work. The button appears when the selection includes a suppressed address.
A selection is kept while you page and filter, so you can gather rows from several pages before acting. Rows without a matched constituent cannot be selected: the address came from a send that was not linked to a profile.
Where else this shows
- Communications → Logs has a Failures only filter and a Reason column, so any single bounced message shows why.
- Campaigns → View Analytics shows the bounce rate alongside delivery, opens and clicks, and a Recipients tab lists who bounced, failed, unsubscribed or reported spam, with the reason for each.